Telecommunications switching platforms operate to connect incoming communication channels to selected outgoing communication channels. Incoming information channels may be 16 kbps LPC-encoded voice channels or 64 kbps PCM-encoded voice channels. Outgoing information channels may likewise be 16 kbps LPC-encoded voice channels or 64 kbps PCM-encoded voice channels. Even when information channels are being switched from one 16 kbps LPC-encoded voice channel to another 16 kbps LPC-encoded voice channel, the telecommunications switching platform may require the internal switching of the voice channels to be performed using 64 kbps switches and channels; thus even in this circumstance rate conversion and transcoding may be required.
In the event that a module used in a prior-art telecommunications switching platform fails, or is added or removed from the system while the system is operating, prior-art systems have failed to detect such failure or insertion or extraction. Thus, such systems are unable to be easily be configured or reconfigured.
In prior-art telecommunications switching platforms a number of processors or controllers may be implemented to perform the numerous functions of the platforms. In such cases, each of the processors typically has an operating system associated with it. Prior-art systems have typically required that the operating system be downloaded into volatile memory from a high-level operating system, which might have its own associated nonvolatile semiconductor memory or hard disk drive.